South Broad Residence

A young couple acquired an old townhouse in South Philadelphia and sought spaces in which to embrace their culture of cooking with friends and raise their young child. The townhouse had been altered over its 100+ year existence to create a live-in suite on the third floor, bedrooms and a bath on the second floor, and an open office on the ground floor with a small galley kitchen that faced a small yard. There was evidence that at one time a basement unit had access to the kitchen. In short, the spaces were past their prime, inefficient and not fit for contemporary life.

Despite the awkward layout, the home still held vestiges of the brownstone's glory days. In particular, the nearly intact parlor room facing Broad Street had ample volume, eastern light, and late Victorian millwork that included a painted archway replete with Doric columns. That archway, while not structural, served as a natural demarcation point for the ground floor renovation.

The archway also informed the location of the kitchen: the kitchen’s epicenter was determined using the centerline of the archway and the width of the adjacent bay facing the side yard. The kitchen is literally the heart of this home. The family often entertains friends and family from abroad for months at a time, and the kitchen needed to accommodate many people, flow well, and have ample storage. The elements of the existing galley kitchen were sold to make way for a new open kitchen with adjoining dining room.

Culinary activities can be quite performative, especially when one works alongside friends. To celebrate this theatrical aspect, an arched niche resembling a proscenium arch was designed in line with the side yard bay. That arched recess houses wall cabinets and recalls the existing parlor room millwork. Its curve was determined by the angles of the bay in a plan to elevation relationship as demonstrated in the final image. The niche is painted a deep ink blue to further distinguish itself from the white plane of the pantry wall millwork. The wall cabinets have a pink-hued interior that matches a similar hue on the boldly graphic Italian tiled backsplash from Ceramica Bardelli. The exposed top of the wall cabinets allows for the display of objets d'art. The edges of the niche gently curve inwards to contrast with the straight sides of the countertop.

The countertop of the island, like the niche's countertop, is faced with quartz. The island houses a cooktop and a recessed downdraft, keeping the perspective view free of visual obstruction. The sides of the island waterfall to the existing wood parlor floor and the length of the countertop matches the width of the bay. Three Artemide bottle lights sit on the centerline of the counter, with the middle one at the nexus point. The pendants’ translucent blue gradient reflects the hue found in the niche. The island, like the pantry, has ample storage with custom-designed, integrated, flush pulls that carry the arched theme. Cookbooks sit inside shelving built into the island millwork facing the bay.

The bay is designed to be an intimate space where a young child can spend one-on-one time with an adult at a bespoke table. New, tall Runtal radiators at the edges of the bay provide the space with discreet heat. Seated there, a child has a cosseted view of the kitchen. The table is designed as a partial ellipse, with a bullnose edge in contrast to the adjacent island. The existing sill and one elliptical leg support the top, which has a hole for feeding through electronic cords. A light fixture designed by Ingo Maurer composed of 10 Campari bottles visually connects to the island pendants in form and can be the sole source of illumination providing a cone of solace after a late night.

With the theatrical performance of cooking complete, the meal moves to the dining room. Marcel Wanders’ Skygarden lamp for Flos floats over the dining table. Its dome shape echoes the kitchen’s flush millwork pulls and arched forms and its plaster interior recalls a Victorian ceiling medallion. The pantry wall jogs around the reoriented basement stair and smartly uses the available head room for an illuminated corner display, cabinetry, and a concealed bar replete with a mirrored back and pocketed pivot doors. A quartz console, aligned with the island, stands at the back of the dining space and conceals a wine refrigerator and bottle storage. The dining table naturally sits in between the console and island, allowing for ample flow. A custom pocketed basement door blends in with the dining space.

The ground floor lacked one other crucial space: a powder room. The parlor room's northwest corner where it meets the side yard provided a perfect location. A western-facing window brings in daylight, which is then given back to the parlor via transom glass and when the powder room’s door is pocketed. The addition of a new primary bath on the floor above allowed for efficient plumbing runs to the powder room. A Toto toilet with a remote flush is wall-mounted to a chocolate-colored tiled wainscot. That wainscot picks up the colors in the hexagonal pink and brown floor tiles from Bisazza. The floor tile orientation stretches the small space visually. The blush pink wallpaper, chosen by the owners, makes a visual impact. Brass accents match the gold in the wallpaper. A compact hand sink, vanity, and recessed radiator complete the space.

Across from the powder room is a coat closet secreted below the main stair. The door matches the adjacent existing millwork. The closet provides ample storage, not only for coats and winter boots, but also for a folded stroller and suitcases. On the other side of the stair landing, the large cast iron radiator was removed and replaced with a sleek Runtal radiator, allowing space for guests to store their shoes.

On the second floor, the light-filled front room was reconfigured into a primary suite facing Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. Originally, the front rooms consisted of a bedroom with shallow closets around an existing chimney flue with a small, attached dressing room and multiple access points. With all the circulation, the flow was very inefficient. The entire floor was served by one centrally-located, tight bathroom.

Early-stage dialogue set the requirements for the primary suite: a primary bedroom designed to accommodate a queen size bed with a uniquely carved headboard and clothing storage and an en suite bathroom. The bathroom needed a shower, bathtub, enclosed toilet room, double sink, and storage for a hamper and bath items. Nestled into an arched niche, the bed's open-carved headboard is framed serenely by soft-edged millwork. On either side, well-lit, integrated, oak desks make space for bedside items and late-night laptop work. Cords are accommodated through a hole in the rear of the desks. Above and below the desks, there is storage for books and bed linens. Two Louis Poulsen sconces provide directed light for bedside reading and a baseboard-mounted LED strip washes the marine green-hued niche to accentuate the headboard.

The bed faces a thirteen linear foot wall of wardrobes. Repositioning the entry allowed for an efficient "served to servant space" in the words of renowned Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn. Dividing the room asymmetrically, the larger space occupied by the bed is “served” by the entry circulation and wardrobe. A reeded glass pocket door provides borrowed morning light to the hall.

The bathroom has a large program, so the existing front rooms were removed down to the brickwork to allow for as much space as possible. Again, Kahn’s notion of functional space came into play in the hall, which is now lined with fifteen linear feet of storage, including space for a stacked washer and dryer. That appliance, now discreetly tucked away on a concrete pad enclosed by pivoting pocket doors, was removed from the third floor to create another bedroom.

Like the powder room, the primary bathroom borrows western light from the side yard. By placing the tub and shower along the party wall and retaining a window in that wall, light pours into the room and is reflected by the large mirror across from the tub. The partial height plumbing wall allows daylight to subtly bathe the shower, which has a stepped marble sill to accommodate bath products and a raised leg for shaving. Owner-selected, variegated blue river tile adorns the shower and walls. A Hansgrohe combination thermostatic rain shower and handheld spray is mounted in the shower near the tempered glass door for a more comfortable operation. The shower door has a ground glass hole for a minimal pull and is mounted with stainless steel hinges. The tub has a hand shower so the parents may gently wash their young child, and bath toys and products stand ready on the sill.

A former closet was reoriented to fit a wall-hung toilet with a Toto bidet seat and remote flush. An open pocket door reveals a wainscot of the same river tile lining the walls. Large format, chalk-colored floor tiles give color continuity to the bath spaces.

A towel radiator heats up the shower wall and is in easy reach upon exiting. The adjacent wall holds mounted hooks, a built-in hamper, and a large storage cabinet. An outlet in that cabinet allows for drying hair in view of the mirror. A marble sill and tiled niche are recessed behind the Duravit sink and two-drawer vanity. Outlets are concealed below the mirror. Soft-close pocket doors create privacy.

Along with these renovated spaces, electrical, plumbing and heating services were all upgraded. Weakened joists were repaired, ceilings were raised, recessed LED lighting was placed throughout, and floors were refinished.

The home now enjoys a contemporary layout in which the family can cook and entertain with friends and family and raise their child.

All photographs on this page by Rick Wright Photography except where noted by *

PLANS, RENDERINGS, PRE-RENOVATION, FUTURE